close

Redeeming Grace Church undergoes major renovation

By Paul Paterra staff Writer ppaterra@observer-Reporter.Com 4 min read
1 / 3

Photos: Courtesy of Allison Sachs

Redeeming Grace Church in Bethel Park is in the midst of a $560,000 renovation.

2 / 3

Courtesy of Allison Sachs

A bulk of the work was done in the downstairs area of the church.

3 / 3

Courtesy of Allison Sachs

The renovation project includes a parking pad with three handicapped parking spots.

Redeeming Grace Church has grown quite a bit from its early days, when just three people met in the home of Pastor Josh Tancordo.

The church now has a congregation of about 150 and a building in Bethel Park to call its own, which is undergoing a $560,000 renovation.

“We purchased the building about two or three years ago and it was something,” Tancordo said. “There had been squatters there and the place had been left in disarray. It was basically trashed.”

Redeeming Grace’s origins date to 2014, when Tancordo, his wife, Becky, and one other person would meet in his Brentwood living room for Bible study.

“We just met everywhere we could,” Tancordo said of the eventual transition to a church in 2016. “A Methodist church (Fairhaven United Methodist Church) let us use their building, Abraham Lincoln Elementary School and most recently, the Crown Plaza Hotel.”

Since November 2021, the church has called 7189 Baptist Road in Bethel Park its home, site of the former South Park Baptist Church, which had a dwindling congregation.

“The Lord provided us with this opportunity,” Tancordo said. “But it was certainly a job even getting it inhabitable. Thankfully, the auditorium was in decent shape.”

With the amount of work needed, a renovation project was necessary.

Work included installing new doors throughout the building, a new double door entryway at the back of the church, updated flooring at the main entrance and a reconfiguration of the downstairs space, which called for an upgrade to the classroom, offices, nursery and meeting space.

“The heavy lifting was definitely downstairs,” Tancordo said.

Volpatt Construction of Castle Shannon, which has handled many church renovations, has worked on the project for a few months.

Michael Volpatt expected it to be completed this month.

“We’re in the home stretch,” Allison Sachs, project manager, said recently, adding that some work remains on the downstairs bathroom, flooring and cabinetry. “All of the outside work is done, the paving. We’re about at the finish line.”

Volpatt said he is fascinated by what the church has been able to accomplish.

“We’re a company that does a lot of religious work, so being a part of restoration for organizations like theirs that are worshipping and spiritual and reaching out to the community, that is something that we take great pride in,” he said.

The congregation of Redeeming Grace Church, which Tancordo calls a “Bible-believing church,” is one that has grown exponentially during the last two years.

“When we moved in, I think we had about 70,” Tancordo said. “It’s really encouraging because I know there are a lot of churches that are struggling. I don’t know why the Lord is blessing us in this way, but we’re grateful. Our heart really is to come in and serve and be a blessing to the Bethel Park community.”

He said he and his wife moved to the Pittsburgh area from Alabama in 2014, guided by the feeling that there was a need for the Gospel in the area.

“We visited the city and felt ourselves at home,” Tancordo said. “We came here with the specific purpose of beginning a church. It took us two-and-a-half years to get to know people. We literally knew no one, other than our real estate agent.”

He didn’t have any pastoral experience or knowledge on how to start a church.

“I read one book about starting a church and did it,” said Tancordo, who has a doctorate in theology from Southern Theology Seminary in Louisville, Ky. “We were relying on the Lord, I guess.”

He said the church is very community-oriented and geared toward single moms and widows, with plans to eventually have a diaper pantry.

“We’ve done an analysis of some of the needs in Bethel Park,” Tancordo said. “We’ve tried to see what needs are present here. I think a lot of it is related to relationships, needs that are below the surface like struggling marriages, anxiety, depression. But as far as more practical needs go, we’ve identified single moms and widows as sort of a demographic of need.”

An activity to help that demographic is free oil changes that have been offered in the church parking lot. The last such event attracted about 40 people.

“We’re just trying to serve, whatever we can do with the building that we have,” Tancordo said.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $/week.

Subscribe Today